The spatial concept transforms the stage into an operational working environment. Technical crew members are placed directly on stage and integrated into the performance architecture, making production labor visible as part of the dramaturgy. The space is structured around the live translation of Kostyuchenko’s text, exposing language mediation as an active, real-time process in which meaning is constructed, filtered, and technically transmitted in front of the audience.

The scenographic layout references the open newsroom structure of Novaya Gazeta, with shared work surfaces, screens, cables, and exposed infrastructure forming a collective landscape. By dissolving the boundary between stage, control zone, and audience, the project creates a hybrid newsroom-performance space that positions spectators as witnesses not only to the narrative, but also to the mechanisms through which testimony and information circulate across borders and languages.

Author of the book: Elena Kostyuchenko
Director: Polina Solotowizki
Set Design: Vanya Bowden
Dramaturg: Polina Borodina
Costumes: Ksenia Sorokina
Sound Design: Alina Petrova, Alina Anufrienko
Light design: Iana Boitcova
Video art: Misha Zaikanov

General producer: Svetlana Dolya
Executive producer: Ksenia Ignatova
Co-produced by: Kunstfest Weimar 2025

Actors: Chulpan Khamatova, Evgenia Borzykh, Leon Wieferich, Antonia Leichtle, Johanna Dähler